A War in the Mind
by Abohrition
Summary: Bruce was searching for seclusion. He found it. But he also found the exact opposite. Will finding someone who shares his problem help him? Or will the beautiful woman be unable to help him tame it? Clint/OC
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is my first Avengers story but I hope you like it. I am posting both the prologue and first chapter today so please review and let me know what you think? So excited! I have been revising my other stories a lot and they are on hold until this story is finished. **

**Prologue**

He had been searching for a place, far out of reach from the rest of civilization. A safe place. It didn't have to be safe for him, just for them. People. _All those people__…_He thought to himself as he approached the building, if you could call it that. He was standing in the middle of the deserts of Egypt. Searching for the underground tomb that had been abandoned by it's previous occupant centuries before. It had kind of just fallen upon him. Research had helped but not a lot. He had the idea that he could find a tomb of some lesser noble of Egypt. Not a Pharaoh seeing as civilization was looking for Pharaohs. He finally found the co-ordinates and was surprised to find that the underground sanctuary's entrance was already dug out signalling that someone was inside. _Oh well__…__ it__'__ll be easy to clear them out._

* * *

><p><em>Somebody definitely lived here. <em>He thought to himself. But not your average person. There was no technology lying around or anything like that. But there was a cot, freshly slept in, and non-perishable foods stocked in the corner. He continued to walk through. Room after room was left untouched from what he could tell, aside from the obvious walking path that signalled that people had been walking through. When he finally made it to the end, he was taken aback. There was a woman there.

"I need you to leave. Take whatever, just leave." The woman said through clenched eyes and fists. He noticed what she was doing, he did it all the time, she was trying to control herself. Control the rage. _Ha! She thinks she can make it stop._

"It's not going to work, you know. The rage. It's like cancer. Except no matter what happens, nothing will stop it." He was smirking at her.

He took the moment to appraise her. She was slight, from what he could tell. Thin waist and face. Decent sized assets on both accounts. Her clothes hid most, but he could still tell. She had dark hair that fell in curls down to her chest that was heaving. Her skin was a creamy colour that made her look porcelain. Her response brought him out of his observation.

"You would know."

"You have no idea sweetheart." He chuckled.

"You sure about that… Bruce?"

His blood ran cold. "You know me? Miss…"

"I know of you. Terminology is important Mr. Banner."

"It doesn't matter. So long as the point is made. Who are you?" He demanded.

She smirked. "I think it's time you leave."

"You know, I'm starting to get angry and you wont like me when I'm angry." He spat. Trying to suppress the other guy within him and quickly failing.

"Hmmm… I don't know. I just might." He heard when he suddenly felt a sharp blow to the chest.

* * *

><p>Tony Stark was in the air waiting. He had followed the good doctor just to make sure that he knew where to find him if the time came. What he wasn't counting on was hearing the words 'Hulk' and 'Smash' booming out of the entrance. Someone had angered the good doctor and he thought it better to wait before approaching. He also didn't expect to hear a blood curdling scream come out either. It wasn't a scream of terror or pain, it was like… a war cry. And he was starting to feel nervous. <em>Tony Stark does not get nervous.<em> He thought to himself. _Now I__'__m thinking of myself in the third person. Awesome._ He was chuckling when his friend bounded out the building. But then he realised that Bruce didn't jump out of the building, he was thrown. The Hulk was thrown… _Holy captain. _Tony decided it was time to vacate before he was spotted but not before snapping a few pictures of the Hulk that was lying in the sand.


	2. Discovery

**Discovery**

"What in the world did this?" Fury said while leaning towards the computer screen with interest knowing full well that it had to be a what and not a who to accomplish the image that lay in front of him. The whole gang was there, with the exception of Bruce, but they were starting to understand why. They were all looking at the pictures Tony had taken in Egypt. There, lying on the sand was Bruce in Hulk form bloodied and beaten and extremely unconscious slowly reverting as the pictures progressed back to just Bruce.

"I think we should go knock on the door, say hello, offer a latte. Do you think they would like Chai? We should get it with soy in the event that they are vegan."

"Shut up Tony. Fury? What is the plan of action?"

"I can blow it up, force them all out."

Fury wasn't listening. He was thinking. Is it a new agency? Nothing had come to his attention. No suspicious activity in the area that he could find but then again…

"Agent Romanoff, could you do some recon? Figure out where Bruce is and who is occupying that tomb. Anything you see, I want to know about it. Take Tony with you, he knows where it is and can act as an escape rout. Agent Barton, you can go but don't blow it up, we are going to need to see what is inside. Captain, be ready with Barton in the event we need to infiltrate. Move out."

Fury didn't give any time to comment as he swiftly left the briefing room leaving the team to themselves.

"So no lattes?" Tony looked around in mock seriousness. "No? Okay then. I'm gonna have one to go. Meet you at takeoff."

With that, everybody dispersed.

* * *

><p>The jet landed a safe distance away and Natasha and Tony were on the way to the entrance. Once they were close enough, Tony dropped Natasha to the ground earning him a scowl.<p>

"Next time, be more gentle."

"Oh I'm never gentle spidey." His comment was rewarded with a chuckle from Natasha.

"Be ready, just in case."

Natasha advanced on the entrance noticing that much like Tony had said, there were no outside guards. She looked around for Bruce but couldn't spot him. _Inside then. _

"Everything clear?" Natasha heard over the comm unit that was nestled in her ear.

"So far so good."

She approached the entrance and looked down. The stairs were sandy but had obviously been recently swept out. She went down them. Upon entering she noticed that nothing looked touched. She could see track marks of a body being dragged and followed them. After about three rooms, she entered one that looked lived in. It had food stacked in the corner and a cot with a sleeping body resting under the covers. She couldn't see who they were but had a bad feeling about who was under the covers. As she approached, she heard something and halted in her steps.

"You need to lighten your step and breathe quieter. I heard you from four rooms away." Natasha turned to the person talking. The woman was beautiful from her flowing curly hair to her emerald eyes. "You're good, but you could be better. Not to mention the tin man is listening to music outside." The woman's face was expressionless.

"How did she know that? Ask her how she knows that?" Tony's voice spoke over the comm.

"I'll tell you if you come inside." The woman responded leaving Natasha a little perturbed that the stranger had hacked their comm server.

The next moment, Tony was walking through the door. You couldn't see his face but Natasha got the distinct impression that he was pissed. Tony stood there in his suit running facial recognition over the strange yet alarmingly beautiful woman. Nothing.

"Are you disappointed? Mr.." The woman said.

"How did you hack our communications?"

After saying that, a voice was coming over their ear pieces. "I switched the signal, she shouldn't be able to hear us. We're moving in."

"You can tell your friend there is no need to 'move in' and that they can just come in. No need to break the front door."

"How did she do that?"

"How did she do that?"

"How did she do that?"

Tony, Tash, and Steve all said at the same time as Steve and Clint walked in.

"You can stop pretending to sleep Bruce. Your friends came to pick you up."

Bruce shot out of bed with a look of shock on his face. That was the most energy he'd had all day. "Wha.."

"He's been pretending to be sleeping for a few hours now, to weak to get out on his own and the other guy doesn't seem to want to make an appearance. Not that it worked out well last time."

Tony retracted his helmet.

"Hello. My names Tony Stark, most people call me Iron Man, are you vagan? Do you like Chai? Where are your henchmen?"

The woman's face twitched as she held back a laugh. It turned into a light chuckle. "I don't have any henchman. And no, I'm not a vegan. Chai is good. Are you expecting to have a tea party?"

Tash was starting to get annoyed. She turned to Bruce. "Are you okay? How many are there?"

Bruce grimaced. "Just her. She doesn't need any help, trust me on that one. Ready to go?" His eyes were darting to his friends, pleading with them to turn around and take him away.

"Who are you?" Clint said.

"That has nothing to do with you. Take him and leave." She turned to Bruce. "Bruce. Feel better. If you ever wanna chat, you know where to find me." She winked at him and turned to leave.

Unfortunately, Clint decided to loose the arrow he had poised on her since he walked in. Bruce screamed. "Nooo! Fuck!" The woman caught the arrow and had her eyes scrunched closed. Bruce darted at her. "You need to relax, breathe. Breathe." He turned to the others. "Get out! Now!" Seeing the painfully obvious fear in Bruce's eyes caused the group to step back. Even Tony for all his arrogance and ego. But none of them were leaving. "Get out! Now!" He turned back to the woman. Trying to calm her down but stepped back as the woman started shaking. Bruce ran.

The group followed without a second thought. If the green guy was afraid, they should be too. They had just made it to the front door when they heard the same cry that Tony had heard the first time he was here. His blood ran cold… again. Then they heard the walls breaking and it was getting closer.

"Sorry guys but I think I'm going to grab the stupid bird and make a mad dash out of here." He gripped

Clint and took off into the air as the others ran as hard as the could. _Might as well take the bait away from _

_the other guys, _Tony thought to himself as he sped through the air. He heard the cry again and saw the group running hard while Steve half carried Bruce. Then he saw her. He had stopped flying and stayed elevated in the air, awe struck. The group stopped too when they saw her. She was breath taking.

She had white wings holding her up in the air as if she were an angel. Her hair had turned white and her eyes glimmered like freshly polished emeralds. She looked wild. And angry.

"Hey Tony? Are you planning on just dangling the bait in front of her or are you gonna put me down so at least I can make a run for it."

At that moment Tony dropped Clint and the woman, or he'd more than likely call it an angel, dove for the falling Clint scooping him up and heading away towards the jet. Everyone sprinted into action and followed.

* * *

><p>She set him down and started to walk away. She understood why they thought she would kill him but she wasn't ruthless, she could at least get a hold on it after a few minutes. He was staring at her, obviously trying to mask his fear. She didn't want him to be afraid so she took a seat on the ground next to him.<p>

She brought in her wings and willed herself back. After a few moments she was back to normal. She looked at him again. He had an expression of surprise on his face. "I'm not going to kill you… what's your name?"

"Clint," He responded immediately.

"Well Clint, I'm not going to kill you. I defend, I don't attack. So if you don't try to kill me again, you wont end up dead."

He nodded. "Who are you?"

She looked solemn. "That's the question I keep asking myself."

"You got a name?"

"No."

Just then they all came running up to them. Bruce running straight to her. He couldn't understand his need to see if she was okay and neither could she. "Are you alright?"

"I'm good. Your guys a little shaken up and your tin man is an idiot, but I'm okay."

"Hey! I'm not an idiot. I just so happen to be a genius. And it's not a tin suit, it's-"

The woman cut him off. "You dropped your friend from 1500 feet."

Tony just shrugged. "He told me to put him down. I listened."

The woman shook her head.

"That would have peen a painful landing." She said as she got up from the ground extending her hand to Clint to help him which he took after only a moments hesitation. Bruce couldn't help but feel the slight pang of jealousy.

"Thanks." Clint replied as he finally settled on his feet.

"You need to leave now. I'm not going to tell you again." She said before she turned to leave.

Steve spoke up. "You need to come with us. We aren't just going to let you roam free."

The woman shook her head. "_And who's going to stop me? You? Clint wont. He's not stupid enough. Bruce sure as hell wont. Tony? He can try but even then, he has way too much self preservation to put in any real effort. The red head? She's smarter than that. She feels too intimidated and she's right to feel that way._"

Steve was officially spooked. He could hear her perfectly but not once did she say a word. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Everyone replied with the exception of Bruce who had a look of comprehension across his features.

"You didn't hear her?"

"No they didn't. Answer my question, little boy, who is going to stop me?" She smirked at him but he could see the hostility in her eyes. That didn't stop him.

"Don't call me little boy. The name is Steve, and you don't think I can stop you?" He was glaring at her.

"I know you cant, little boy. Do you think you're invincible? You may have lived around a hundred years but that doesn't mean you can't die, it means you haven't. Yet." Her words were cold and condescending.

"Steve, I think it's time to shut up. If she doesn't want to come, she isn't going to." Bruce spoke up. He was the only one who has seen the extent of her abilities and wasn't looking forward to seeing it again.

"Leave her be." Clint seconded.

"Captain, you might want to take your friends advice." Ton said before he turned to the woman. "Speaking of which, can we be friends? I'd like you on my side when Captain pissy pants over here's ego blows."

Steve glared at Tony. "Why are you guys being so stupid? She could be a threat!"

"But she's not. She saved Clint's life and spared mine. She obviously isn't planning on taking any of our lives any time soon." Bruce spoke up as he stepped in front of the woman. Shielding her.

"In all my hundred years, I-"

"Spent seventy of them sleeping. So that still only makes you only 30." Tony cracked up, cutting him off.

"Stop it." The woman said. Stepping from behind Bruce. She got right up in Steve's face. "I'll go."

"Really?" Tash said with a perplexed look on her face.

"Why not? Not like I can stay here anyways after all the attention you guys brought."

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><p><strong>AN: Please Review! I need to know if you like this story! (:**


	3. Identities

**A/N: From now on, the story will only be from my OC's point of view. And yes I switched it to a Clint love story instead of Bruce but Bruce is still a main liner here.**

! #$%^&*()_+

**Identities**

"So you seriously don't have a name?" This came from the woman who's name she had yet to learn.

"No. What is yours?"

The girl hesitated for a moment before responding. "Natasha."

"Wrong! It's Spidey!" Tony winked at her and she had to laugh.

It was at this moment that the man named Steve decided to try to handcuff her. She efficiently knocked him out with a few waves to the head while looking at him. "Is he always this annoying?"

The entire group started laughing. She took that as a yes. Tony walked up to her and passed her a cup of lukewarm liquid. "Chai latte. I used soy in case you were a vegan. Can you please be a vegan? Pretty please? I've never had a vegan friend before, but I would most definitely like one." He gave a mischievous smirk to her and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I will not be a vegan Mr. Stark. However, if you can manage not to annoy me than I think we could be great friends." She gave him a sly smile to match his. The rest of the group started laughing again. "What is so funny?" She was definitely confused.

"You just said that to the most annoying person here." Bruce said giving her a small smile. She knew that look and felt dread pour into her. What is it with people constantly growing infatuated with her?

"On the contrary. On my list, rating from top to bottom, I would say your friend Steve is the most annoying person I have ever met, next to him would probably be Stephen Hawking, and then after him would be-"

"You've met Stephen Hawking?!" Tony blurted.

"I have. He is quite an ass but I suppose people would look to him as a role model… Maybe I don't like people named Steve. Are there a lot of Steve's where we are going? Or is it just him?" She said while nudging the unconscious man lying on the floor in front of her with her foot.

"There are three Steve's that I can think of. One will most likely try to get in your pants, the other will probably think he's better than you, and the third is lying on the floor." Natasha joked. Everyone laughed. "So what should we call you then?"

Every eye was trained on her. "Uhh… well the first person I ever met aside from my creators was this nice woman, her name was Lena." Everything was silent. She knew this was going to happen. It always happened, especially with these government types. "How about you just call me Lena?"

"What do you mean creators?" The man named Clint finally spoke. He didn't seem afraid of her anymore so she took it as a good sign.

"You guys are all government types, right?" She waited for them to nod and when they all did she continued. "Shouldn't I be telling all this to your bosses then?" They all nodded except Tony.

"I don't have a boss. I just come in to help when I'm bored, or when the world is in peril, or when Pepper goes away on business trips, or when I feel like picking on Legolas or Brucie, or the only other hot red head in my life." Tony winked at Natasha and Lena let out a laugh. "Finally, somebody without a tree trunk shoved up their ass!" Tony started laughing with her. She eventually managed to calm down and take a breath. She looked over at Clint and he had an expression on his face that she wasn't used to anymore. When she looked in the faces of men, she only ever saw fear, hatred, lust, or curiosity. Not for a long time had she ever seen a man look at her the way he was. He looked at her with confusion.

! #$%^&*()_+

"Captain, out of every one in the Avengers, I never expected you to be so-" The man in front of her was currently dressing down Steve with his words in front of every single one of his friends. Lana decided that as much as she currently didn't like Steve, she disliked this man much, much more. She turned to Tony, interrupting the man with the eye patch's tirade.

"I think that he surpasses your friend Steve on the list. Is his name Steve too?"

Both the eye patched man and Steve looked at her like she had just sprouted a second head. "Excuse me miss, but I mu-"

"Scratch that, I don't think, I know." Tony was trying not to laugh, which he succeeded at doing but not without people noticing.

"Do not interrupt me!" The man yelled.

"Raising the volume on your command will not make me listen to it. You must come up with a better strategy, patchy."

Tony could have sworn he saw the steam flow out of the Directors ears but Lena could see the anger radiating off of the man like waves.

"Put her in a cell." He commanded to the team and when no body went to move, he repeated it. "Captain, put… her… in… a… cell!" Steve walked over to her and for the second time that day, he was knocked out from just a look.

"I'm going to have to disappoint you when I tell you that I will not be going into a cell. You must be the boss of these fine people." She gestured to the people standing around her. Lena could tell she was getting the man angry. She found it rather amusing.

"My name is Director Nick Fury. And you," He gestured at her. "would be correct in assuming that I am the boss." He took a few calming breaths. "I wish I could say I'm sorry when I tell you that I am indeed putting you in a cell, but I'm not. You were a witness to top secret information and therefore need to be vetted. I assure you, no harm will come to you."

This is when Clint and Bruce spoke up.

"That's not exactly… a good idea Director. She isn't one you want to… anger." Bruce shrunk in on himself.

"She is the classified information." Clint replied hoping that the Director would be a little more hospitable upon hearing this. His hopes were for nothing. He noticed Fury narrow his eyes and approach Lena.

"Put her in the cage." As he went to walk away, a whole bunch of agents came rushing at her, all of whom fell down unconscious, with the exception of Natasha, Bruce, Clint, Tony, and Fury. The director took a deep breath and turned around to stare at Lena. "Who are you?"

"I am a friend of Tony, Bruce, Clint, and Natasha." She gave the group a look and noticed both Clint and Bruce smile slightly while Tony had the grin of a four year old in the Wonka factory. Natasha was staring at her in awe, as if she hadn't expected her to say that but was happy she did. "Well, as of today anyways. I came here because I wanted to, not because I had to. I will be glad to speak to you civilly, although I expect you to understand that I am not a prisoner of yours, nor will I ever be." She gave Fury a look that said _'I will crush you if you even try anything'_ and he nodded his head.

Lena woke all the agents up as she stepped inside with Fury and her friends trailing behind her. She was keeping a mental note of every turn they made and every time they descended. When they finally made it to the bottom Fury attempted to herd her into a glass room which Lena quickly realized was a cage that was in suspension. Heavy duty, probably for Bruce, and definitely not easy to get out of.

Lena stopped just short of the door. "If you expect me to take a step into this death trap, then I would suggest you go on in first. I'm not stupid patchy." She gave him a grin and stepped to the side to let him in before her. He let out a huff and stepped in. She turned to her friends. "I'd say come on in but he's already getting on my nerves and there's generally a 37 second delay before my mind can rationalize if it is brought up by anger and not by choice."

Bruce looked at her perplexed and the others just nodded and stood around to listen. She walked on in and pulled the chair across from Fury around to sit beside him to face the door. "Question away patchy. You have one hour."

"Firstly, do not call me that. Director Fury will do. Secondly, you are not running things here, I am so I will decide when time is up and when it starts. Thirdly, do not-"

Lena cut him off knowing fully that he was about to tell her not to interrupt him. She chuckled internally. _They always did tell me I have an attitude problem_. "How about this. You tell me how this glass prison works and then I'll answer some questions. Compromise sounds better than a power struggle."

Fury sighed again and conceded. "It's no use to you but fine. The walls crack, it drops. Someone tries to escape, it drops. Whoever is in it, falls down with it. Now. Tell me your name."

Lena smirked at him. "I don't do well with orders. Ask me, and I will tell you. I said I would answer some questions, not commands."

"You're on thin ice. Tell me your name."

"And you are starting to piss me off. I think you need to be taken down a peg." At that moment, Lena walked over to the wall and punched a hole through the glass. Her friends went to rush and grab Fury but Lena gave them a look to back off. The prison dropped.

Dropping through the air, Fury was yelling at her. "Are you crazy! We're on a one way ticket to death!"

Lena just smirked at him. "Are you going to play nice?"

Fury was quiet before responding. "Fine."

The next thing he knew, they were back in the hellicarrier and Fury was shaken. The prison was perfectly fine and Lena was right beside him as though she didn't move and not a second had passed. "Next time, I will do it for real Director."

Fury swallowed back the fear that he was experiencing. "May I have your name?"

"Lena."

"Your real name?"

"I don't have one."

"Everyone has a name." Fury was sure she was messing with him.

Lena sighed. "I assure you sir, I do not. I was never given one from my creators."

Fury perked up. He was hoping that if he could find out who created her, he would find out everything he needed to know about her. "Your creators?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me about them?"

Lena glanced at her friends wishing them a final goodbye. All her friends turned away from her when they found out. "You are familiar with mutants?" Fury nodded. "I was bred from the DNA of many of them. Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, Professor Xavier. You name them, I most likely have their DNA."

"So you have their powers?" Fury was studying her. Wondering if she had claws or could cause a hurricane. She tossed her head back and forth as if saying kind of. "What can you do?"

Lena let out a laugh. "I can fly, I can manipulate the elements, heal, get in your head, as you have already noticed. I can teleport, drain your energy and even give it back. I can manipulate sound waves, electromagnetic waves, brain waves. I'm telling you, I can do pretty much anything I want to with a few exceptions. I can manipulate your body, make you explode, even put you back together. I have the highest I.Q. ever recorded so if I can figure it out in my head I can do it provided my powers give me the ability for execution."

"So what's the draw back?"

"What do you mean?" Lena didn't really want to tell him the draw backs so she was hoping he was asking for a weakness and not complications.

"I mean, what is the problem with it all? What is the problem with you?" He was getting an idea, but had to make sure she wasn't going to kill everyone first.

Lena sighed. She looked over at her friends. "Bruce." He stepped forward. "No I wasn't calling you. I was saying that you are the draw back." Everyone was looking between the two.

"And how is that?" Fury asked her. Lena leaned forward and whispered something in Fury's ear. After a few minutes of telling him something, he nodded. "That explains a lot." He looked at Bruce. "Bruce, you may want to come in here." Fury stepped up and walked out of the room patting Bruce's shoulder as he walked in. Bruce took the seat next to Lena. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You feeling edgy at all Bruce?" Bruce just nodded. "I'm about to tell you something and it's going to explain a lot of things but it's also going to piss you off a little bit…" Bruce started shaking his head. He went to get up but she held him down and soothed him. He couldn't understand what was happening but he was pretty glad that he wasn't a huge green rage monster.

"What is it?"

"Have you ever wondered why the gamma radiation changed you but it did nothing to people that tried to use it after you?"

"Well there was one guy-"

"Same circumstances as you buddy." Bruce just nodded for her to continue. "The reason it did that to you, was because you already had mutated genes…" She paused to let him digest her words and then his eyes shot open and his head whipped to her. "I carry those some genes. The people who created me used you to make me, well sort of. Only I didn't get the radiation that you did."

"How do you and I share DNA if I've never given my DNA? I've never been able to give blood, the other guy doesn't really like people taking blood." Bruce wasn't sure what was happening.

"I met you before. Briefly. The way I was bred, it wasn't in a lab entirely. In 1983, two geneticists created me in a lab. They weren't expecting me to be able to do what I can but when I was born, it was just a couple powers. Rogue can steal peoples powers, I can steal their DNA if I want. I never wanted to but I did it anyways because that is just how I was brought up. I was born, but I was still an experiment. When you were sixteen, people noticed the difference about you and sent me in to identify what your power was. And I did. You didn't really have it yet but it was there. They told me to take it and so I did. What I didn't account for was the trigger. So while I could see you were basically indestructible, I couldn't see how emotionally underdeveloped you were. The gamma radiation mutated you so that the mutated DNA separated from everything else."

"So basically what you're saying is, the… other guy, he was always there?"

"Yes." Lena knew what was coming next.

"Can you get rid of him?"

"No. But I can help you control him. To an extent."

"How? You can barely control yourself."

"I can control myself just fine. I just have to rationalize. Anger is not my problem with control. It also isn't yours. What you need to do is stop hating him."

"How am I supposed to stop hating him when you've seen what he can do. What he has done?"


	4. Allegiances

**A/N: So, still no reviews. I would reallllly like it if someone gave me their input. I'm flying blind here!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything except Lena and my ideas. **

! #$%^&*()_+

"There are people in this world that can do much worse than he has done with just the push of a button. The fact of the matter is, the Hulk is a child. He doesn't have an advanced thought process like you. He does what he does because he is protecting himself as well as you. If you would stop hating him and treating him like shit, maybe he would actually listen to you and not be so destructive." Lena gave Bruce a very hostile glance. She was angry. For someone so smart, he was one giant idiot.

"He's a monster." Bruce replied before getting a slap across the face.

"He's a monster! Am I a monster? Does that make everybody with genetic mutations suddenly a monster now? We aren't people anymore? We aren't human beings anymore?" Lena smacked him in the face again causing blood to dribble out the corner of Bruce's mouth.

"No! He's a monster because of what he has done! To all those innocent people!"

Lena smacked him again. "No Bruce. You seem to be the only monster here. Not the hulk. Not me. You. There is another person inside you who would go to the ends of the world to protect you and those he loves. You accept him as that and your life will get a whole lot easier. Don't keep him inside. Let him out. Let him learn. Live in peace with him and he will only kill to protect, not to destroy. He's a toddler Bruce. Not a villain."

Lena watched as her words sunk in. She could read the resignation on his face. He knew she was right. The Hulk was calm through all of her abuse, mental and physical. The Hulk liked her and frankly, she liked the Hulk. He was scared and desperate. Just like she was once. Lena turned and exited the door, giving a quick nod to Fury signalling that she was done.

"Team, to the bridge. We all must have words." Fury spoke in his usual uptight voice. He stalked off and the rest of the team, including Bruce, and Lena followed him.

! #$%^&*()_+

"Can we do ice breakers? Hello, my name is Tony Stark and I could pay people to wipe my ass. Next!"

Surprisingly enough, Fury didn't silence Tony with a glare. "Although I do not agree with the idea of a middle school get to know each other game, Tony has a point. The Battle of New York was a success but none of you were prepared. It took a large amount of death and destruction to get you all to work together. I would agree that the team needs to bond."

"Sir, you cant just expect us to go out for a night on the town and then we're all best friends." Steve commented.

"No I can't. Well at least not in one night. I have already conversed with Miss Potts," Fury glanced over at Tony. "and she has agreed to have the Avengers initiative take up permanent living quarters in Stark Tower."

"It is now Avengers tower, and if I don't remember correctly, the tower belongs to me." Tony burst. Lena could tell he was just being difficult for the fun of it but she was sure no one else could.

"And if I don't remember correctly, _you_ belong to Miss Potts. So I believe that makes your opinion irrelevant." Now Tony was mad, but he didn't argue on the Pepper front.

"I'm sorry if I don't want spangles living down the hall from me." Tony grumbled barely audibly. The only reason Lena heard it was because she was right next to him. Lena let out a laugh and everyone but Tony was looking at her with curiosity. Tony was attempting not to laugh as well and was skating by with just a smirk.

Fury let out a breath. Lena decided in that moment to ruffle his feathers. "Hey Patchy! If they're moving out, can I move in? We could be bunk mates." She winked at him.

"SHEILD agents do not have bunk mates. There is only one bed in ea…" Fury turned red and Lena and Tony were giggling like school girls. "I do not know what I'm going to do with you just yet but I assure you I'm not one for spooning."

Lena's face went straight as she grabbed Tony's arm for stability. "What about forking?" This had everyone softly giggling among themselves if not for that fact of how not funny her joke actually was. Lena and Tony had both fallen out of their chairs and were currently rolling around and laughing.

Fury looked to Natasha. "Have they been like this the whole time you've been with her?" Natasha just nodded looking fondly. Subtly wishing that she could let go and laugh like Lena was.

"Her and Tony have developed a rapport of great magnitude. But on the other hand, Steve has spent most of our time with her unconscious. May I suggest something, sir?" All eyes were on Natasha including Lena who had only just gotten back into her chair. Tony was still on the floor.

"What a wonderful idea Natasha!" Lena chimed in and her smile only got brighter. Lena reached over and caressed Natasha's arm. The entire room was surprised to see that she didn't coil away from her touch like she would to everyone else, even if it was Clint.

"Proceed Agent Romanoff." Fury stated, ignoring Lena to the best of his ability.

"I know that you may not be so trusting but the rest of us trust Lena, with the exception of Rogers of course. The Avengers initiative would benefit greatly with her by our side. Not to mention that she would actually be on our radar if she stayed with us."

"I cannot have an avenger who is not aligned with SHEILD Agent Romanoff."

"Not to mention we don't actually know where her allegiance is." Steve put forward.

Lena was getting angry so she looked at Steve and knocked him out. She then looked to Fury. "I lay my allegiance with the people conscious in this room, but not with SHEILD. A corporation can never be trusted, but a person can. As I have said before. The people in this room are my friends and maybe one day you will be too. You have a good heart but a narrow mind. I warn you Mr. Fury. I am not one you wish to have as an enemy."

"Like I said, we cannot have an avenger who is not aligned with SHEILD."

"But from what is going through your mind right now, The Avengers are not SHEILD. I have already aligned myself with the team so you may as well just accept my uncontrolled presence." Lena was starting to shake and began rationalizing. She did not want to change right now.

Natasha put her hand on Lena's arm and while Lena was pretty much at full transformation, she trusted her. Lena looked over at Natasha and laid her hand over top of the one on her own. She then looked to everyone in the room, Fury being last. Natasha spoke directly at Fury with conviction and a glare in her eye. "I have also aligned myself with her."

Clint seconded it at the same time as Tony.

HGVFUYCOLUYCLUH

Natasha was feeling a tightening in her chest as they walked into Avengers Tower. She had never had a friend aside from Clint and even then, he was more like her brother than her friend. He had always protected her and saved her. He saw something in her but she knew it was not what Lena saw in her. She knew that Lena simply just liked her. She always tried so hard to hide herself but with Lena having the powers she did, Natasha couldn't hide at all. It was almost relieving.

Lena was in her glory. She liked Natasha, for reasons she would never say as to not violate Natasha to the others. Natasha thought she had red in her ledger but she probably had the cleanest ledger out of all of her new friends. Tony was definitely her favourite but Natasha had proven that you couldn't judge a friendship by how entertaining it was. Natasha was not all that entertaining to her and she had only just met her but Natasha stood by her and Lena couldn't not feel like there was a spot opening in her heart that Natasha had filled and would never be able to vacate. Lena would lay her life down for her if it came to it.

Then there was Steve. She had woken him up to leave and he seemed to be overly disgruntled by the fact that his team mates and friends had chosen her over SHEILD. The truth was that she wanted to like Steve but he was so arrogant. He was not full of himself but in his mind, if a person was dangerous, that person was a threat. Lena couldn't understand why he couldn't see that while she could have killed him, instead she just knocked him out. Repeatedly. She knew Steve was thinking about his distaste for her and was about to start a discussion.

"So what are your motives? Infiltrate the Avengers and break us down one by one? Or are you gathering intel for Loki or some other guy who plans to take over the earth?" Steve looked at her contemptuously.

"Neither. My only motive is to be happy. I don't plan to cause anyone harm and will do everything in my power to protect every single one of you if harm comes your way."

"Yeah says the girl who keeps taking me down." Steve replied sarcastically.

Lena whirled around and got in his face making sure to get as close as she could without actually touching him. "You do realise that while I may knock you out, you never feel any pain. No headache. The world doesn't spin and in all actuality your brain shuts down too so you don't even register that you are sleeping. I could have killed you the moment you approached my home but I didn't. I didn't kill Bruce. I saved Clint. And I have been nothing but nice to everyone who has deemed it fit to be nice to me. I'm a protector, not a killer and the sooner you realize that, the sooner things will go smoothly. So pull your head out of your ass and bite mine." She fixed him with a fake smile and jogged to catch up with Tony and Natasha.

"She's got you there." Clint had snuck up on Steve. Steve was growing exasperated. All of his friends were blindly trusting this woman. She was a threat.

"Why is everyone so blind to how much of a threat she is?" Steve practically spat. It wasn't even really a question.

Clint chuckled. "And what makes her so much of a threat?"

"You saw her out there. What she can do. And from what she says, she can do even more. She's dangerous." Steve replied.

"None of what you just said makes her a threat. Yeah, she may be dangerous but that doesn't make her a threat. And you are dangerous as well. You could subdue almost anyone you come across. Bruce can't even control the fact that one mood swing and half of Manhattan turns to rubble in a matter of minutes. Tony has the technology to destroy countries at the push of a button as if he were playing Galaga, not to mention that he has a suit that can destroy just about anything in his path. He's also incredibly mentally unstable. Thor is a God from another planet who can command lightning and can trade blows with the hulk without a bruise. If we scorned him, he could potentially bring back an army of Aesir and wipe us out. Natasha is a master assassin and kills people so efficiently that she makes it look like folding laundry on a Sunday. And then there is me who despite that fact that I have a heart, only drops a grudge by putting an arrow through the persons eye and bringing an untimely death. And then there is Fury who wields so much power that he could literally order us dead with the provocation of us not responding to an email promptly. So again, I am going to ask you. What makes her a threat? It's not a persons abilities that make them a threat, it's their actions that do." And with that Clint Barton walked away.

Steve had to admit that they both had a point. Lena was surprisingly merciful considering how he treated her and how she could retaliate if she so chose. And she saved Clint. And spared Bruce. Not to mention she seemed pretty protective of the other guy in Bruce's case. She could have taken them all out in Egypt but she didn't and that was something that confused him. He would never admit that she was more powerful than all of them combined and that was what probably made him dislike her so much. There was nobody to protect him from her and he couldn't protect them from her either. He was weak compared to Lena. But the guys were right. He'd have to figure out a way to live with it. But she had to stop knocking him out.

ERHSEDFHSRETUS

Tony was bursting with excitement to show her the tower. He had called Pepper to set up accommodations for his new bestie Lena seeing as all the other team members had a room here already if they wanted to just stop in and Bruce even had his own apartment waiting for him. He even asked Lena what she wanted and all she replied was a cot and a balcony. So he decided to have Pepper set her up a place at the very top of the tower in the little storage room on the roof. Technically it was more like a large rooftop cellar but it was waterproof and he had already retrofitted it for when Thor came because he was sick of having to call Pepper to have her call someone in maintenance to call someone to fix the broken windows Mjornir kept making.

Tony, Natasha, Clint, Steve, Bruce and Lena were greeted by Pepper in the penthouse as soon as the elevator doors opened. "Tony! You must be Lena!" Pepper sighed bringing Lena into her arms. Lena smiled politely and nodded.

"You must be Tony's owner." Lena smirked at Tony and he just made a fake angry face at her. They both burst out laughing.

Pepper was caught off guard. The woman was absolutely beautiful and had an accent that she couldn't quite place. Jarvis seemed to notice at the same time. "Sir, it appears you have somebody in the building whom I do not have any voice matches for. To whom do I address?"

"Her name is Lena, Jarvis. Address her as my new Vegan friend." Tony winked and smirked at Lena and Lena just burst out howling with laughter.

"Tony, my friend, I do not believe I have been introduced to Lady Vegan. I am Thor Odinsson, of Asgard. Please to meet you, my Lady." Thor went to bow but Lena must have found something in his movements a threat as she jumped out in front of her friends and let her wings expand as she turned to her alter self and let out her battle cry preparing to protect her new friends. Thor jumped back in shock only to land with a thud when she knocked him out before he could catch his balance. She could tell her friends were speaking to her but she had not had time to rationalize and catch up to her body. She approached Thor and removed the hammer from his hand as if it were a paper weight and held it at her side.

Natasha cautiously swept into Lena's vision, trying to bring her back to her senses and ignore the fact that the supposedly immovable hammer was hung off Lena's hand as if it belonged there. "Lena! He's and avenger." Lena looked into Natasha's eyes for a few moments and whatever Lena saw caused her to rationalize what Nat had said. She retracted her wings and got out of a defensive stance. She turned to look at everyone else and all they were looking at was the hammer. Except Clint who was looking her in the eyes as if to say that everyone was fine.

! #%$# ^#^#$^!

Thor woke up to a sight for sore eyes. The woman leaned over him had scared him at first but now he realized just how enchanting she was. Mostly it was in the eyes. They seemed to reach into him. She outstretched her hand and pulled him up easily. "My name is Lena. Not vegan. Tony was just making a joke. Sorry about… yeah." She gave him a tentative smile and he just stuck out his hand for her to formally shake.

"How wonderful to meet you, Lady Lena."

"She's the newest addition to our team. She's also taking the roof room so you're being evicted."

Lena looked distressed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to take away your room. You can have it back."

"No he can't." Tony replied as if he had the final say.

"It is quite alright. Pepper has already moved my room which I am quite thankful for. Now I live in the same room as my Lady Jane." Thor smiled. That's when he noticed it. Lena noticed his face grow confused. She noticed he was looking at the hammer and just handed it out to him.

"Sorry. I thought you were going to attack so I kind of took it away. You can have it back. I'm not really all that into hammers anyway." She giggled. Thor just looked at the hammer. He had to admit he was quite nervous that that hammer had chosen a different host. He tentatively reached out and grasped the handle. She let go and he let out a relaxed sigh when it didn't drop out of his hand.

"That is most peculiar." Thor whispered.

"Well let's show Lena her awesome new digs!" Tony spoke as he turned and went up the stairs to the roof. "The elevator can get you there too but I like this way better. I think you will too. Or you could just fly up I suppose. Did you say you could teleport? Jarvis is going to have a field day with that."

Everyone followed suit and once they were standing in the middle of the roof, Tony opened the cellar like door and motioned Lena in. She walked in without hesitation and looked around. The room was immaculate. A large smile graced her face when she saw that the roof was transparent looking outside from in. She looked at the rest of the group and ran at Natasha while she squealed with delight. "This is so wonderful! I can't wait to sleep up here! And we're up so high! I just want to fly! Natasha, do you want to go for a ride?"

To everyone's surprise, Natasha grinned and run up the stairs with Lena. The rest ran up just in time to see them both dive off the side of the building and a few seconds later they shot up straight in the air. The others watched in awe.

"Flying an Iron Man suit is awesome, but that must be something else." Tony remarked quietly.

Clint spoke up. "You don't even know." He wanted to be up there too.

"Tony, where are her bags?" Pepper finally spoke up after a while of watching their friends soar in the distance.

"She doesn't have any. I'm sure you could convince her to go shopping with you." Tony smirked at Pepper before looking back at the sky.


End file.
